Goldman Sachs

Goldman Sachs Urges Investors to Buy Commodities Now — Expects Equities to Suffer as Inflation Stays Elevated

August 30, 2022 Bitcoin.com

Celsius Network is bankrupt, so why is CEL price up 4,000% in two months?

August 13, 2022 Coin Telegraph

Altcoin

Takeover rumors and an ongoing short squeeze help CEL price rally but is there enough momentum for more upside?

Crypto lending platform Celsius Network has an approximately $1.2 billion gap in its balance sheet, with most liabilities owed to its users. In addition, the firm has filed for bankruptcy protection, so its future looks bleak.

Still, Celsius Network's native utility token CEL has soared in valuation by over 4,100% in the last two months, reaching around $3.93 on Aug. 13 compared to its mid-June bottom of $0.093.

In comparison, top coins Bitcoin (BTC) and Ether (ETH) rallied 40% and 130% in the same period.

*CEL/USD daily price chart. Source: TradingView*

Takeover rumors behind CEL explosion?

Technically, the price rally made CEL an excessively valued token in early August when its relative strength index (RSI) crossed above the 70 threshold.

Takeover rumors appear to be behind CEL's upside strength. Notably, Ripple wants to purchase Celsius Network's assets, according to an anonymous source cited by Reuters on Aug. 10.

Reuters reported that Ripple is interested in Celsius assets but there's no confirmation yet from either companies. Celsius has halted withdrawals from the platform since June and has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy which will enable them gradually payback what they owe.
— Tajo Crypto (@TajoCrypto) August 10, 2022

CEL's price more than doubled after the piece of news hit the wire.

In July, rumors also surfaced about Goldman Sachs' intention to acquire Celsius Network for $2 billion. CEL was changing hands for as low as $0.39 around that time.

CEL price short squeeze

An army of retail traders also appears to be behind the CEL's giant upside push in the last two months.

Some traders have organized a short squeeze to limit CEL's downside prospects. A short squeeze is when an asset's price rises suddenly, forcing short sellers to buy back the asset at a higher price to close their positions.

Bitcoin & Celsius Update

BTC is very choppy so my focus is on altcoins & CEL. I'd like btc to hold 22k for bullish bias. Cel wants breakout again, Iam looking to buy more above 2.6 with #CELShortSqueeze army behind it, could CEL pump to $3 next?

LIKES/RETWEETS APPRECIATED pic.twitter.com/5axZiwcl1Q
— WSB Crypto Mod (@traderrocko) August 12, 2022

It is possible to create a short squeeze because of CEL's lowering circulating supply, primarily due to the freeze on Celsius Network's token transfers.

Interestingly, FTX had about 5.1 million CEL tokens on Aug. 13, approximately 90% of all the total circulation across exchanges. Meanwhile, the amount of open short positions on the exchange was around 2.66 million CEL versus the monthly high of 2.96 million CEL on Aug. 11.

*FTX sport short. Source: Legacy Synthesis*

In other words, short traders have closed about 300,000 CEL positions in just two days.

What's next for Celsius toke?

Short squeezes are hard to sustain over a long period, history shows.

Such prospects put CEL at risks of facing extreme correction in the coming weeks or months. As said, the token is already overbought, which further adds up to the downside outlook.

*CEL/USD three-day price chart. Source: TradingView*

Drawing a Fibonacci retracement graph from $6.5-swing high to $0.39-swing low churns out interim support and resistance levels for CEL. Notably, the token now eyes a breakout above its 0.618 Fib line (~$4.21), with its upside target at $5.25, up 45% from today's price.

Conversely, a break below the support level at the 0.5 Fib line (~$3.48) risks crashing CEL toward $2.75, down 25% from the current price level.

The views and opinions expressed here are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of Cointelegraph.com. Every investment and trading move involves risk, you should conduct your own research when making a decision.

Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan Predict Euro-Area Recession

July 28, 2022 Bitcoin.com

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July 26, 2022 Bitcoin.com

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July 11, 2022 The Daily Hodl

Celsius pays down 143M in DAI loans since July 1

July 4, 2022 Coin Telegraph

Bitcoin Price

The crypto lender’s liquidation price on its Bitcoin loan has dropped to less than $5,000, according to DeFi industry data.

Celsius has repaid a substantial amount of its outstanding debt to Maker protocol since the beginning of the month, signaling that the troubled crypto lending platform was trying to stave off a complete collapse amid credible rumors of insolvency.

Since July 1, Celsius has repaid $142.8 million worth of DAI stablecoins across four separate transactions, according to data from DeFi Explorer. The crypto lender still has $82 million in outstanding debt owed to Maker. Out of $1.8 billion in lifetime investments, the firm's losses currently stand at $667.2 million.

With the loan repayments, Celsius’ liquidation price on its Wrapped Bitcoin (wBTC) loan has dropped to $4,966.99 BTC. The liquidation price reportedly fell by nearly half since Celsius posted a $64 million DAI payment on July 4, mere hours after it paid $50 million in DAI.

JUST IN: Celsius Network has paid off another $50 million towards its #Bitcoin loan. Their liquidation price has dropped to $8,840.
— Watcher.Guru (@WatcherGuru) July 4, 2022

Celsius is among several crypto blue-chip companies on the brink of insolvency after extreme market conditions triggered historic losses across multiple positions. The firm paused withdrawals in mid-June due to extreme market conditions and later brought on new legal counsel to advise on restructuring. Reports that United States mega-bank Goldman Sachs was looking to acquire Celsius’ assets soon surfaced.

Despite liquidity issues and signs of an imminent collapse in its business, Celsius was reportedly still paying rewards as of last week. Although Celsius users were still receiving rewards, they were unable to withdraw them due to liquidity constraints.

Crypto Biz: Coinbase downgraded, 3AC deemed insolvent and Michael Saylor buys the dip

July 1, 2022 Coin Telegraph

Coin Telegraph

Coinbase, Three Arrows Capital and MicroStrategy headline the latest business news from the world of blockchain.

Coinbase has long been considered an important bellwether of the cryptocurrency market. Last year, when the company was expanding its workforce, adding institutional clients and issuing stock, crypto prices were hitting record highs. Now, in the depths of crypto winter, Coinbase finds itself slashing a fifth of its workforce, losing retail trading volume and contending with downgrades of its credit and stock.

This week’s Crypto Biz dissects Goldman Sachs’ latest downgrade of Coinbase and also looks at the latest developments surrounding Three Arrows Capital.

Goldman Sachs downgrades Coinbase stock to ‘sell’

After a promising debut on the Nasdaq stock exchange in April 2021, it has been nothing but down for Coinbase shares. The company, which once had a fully diluted market capitalization of nearly $100 billion, has been caught in a downward spiral amid crypto winter. Recognizing the 80% decline in Coinbase stock, analysts at Goldman Sachs this week downgraded the company to “sell,” which is basically a recommendation that investors liquidate their positions and be done with the stock for now. Goldman isn’t the only firm turning bearish on Coinbase. Earlier this month, credit rating agency Moody’s downgraded the company to a Ba3 rating, which is considered a non-investment grade.

21Shares responds to bear market with crypto winter ETP

Swiss asset manager 21Shares is gearing up for crypto winter by launching a new product that allows investors to gain low-cost exposure to Bitcoin (BTC). Earlier this week, the company introduced its 21Shares Bitcoin Core exchange-traded product, also known as CBTC. What makes CBTC so unique is its paltry expense ratio of just 21 basis points, which is 44 basis points below the next cheapest product on the market. Basically, 21Shares wants you to keep stacking sats — or buying shares in its ETP — during the market downturn. Unless you think Bitcoin is dead, the best time to accumulate is during bear markets.

British Virgin Islands court reportedly orders to liquidate 3AC

The brain trust behind Three Arrows Capital, also known as 3AC, has been radio silent over the past few weeks amid reports that the hedge fund is bankrupt. On June 27, a court in the British Virgin Islands ordered that 3AC be liquidated, setting the stage for further volatility in the cryptocurrency market. Although details were sparse, the liquidation ruling came shortly after the crypto exchange Voyager Digital handed 3AC a notice of default for its failure to pay back a massive loan that included 15,250 BTC and 350 million USD Coin (USDC). Buckle up, ladies and gents, the next few months are going to be ugly.

MicroStrategy scoops up 480 Bitcoin amid market slump

Concerns about Michael Saylor’s conviction on Bitcoin were laid to rest this week after the MicroStrategy CEO announced that his company had acquired an additional 480 BTC for $10 million. MicroStrategy is now sitting on a colossal 129,699 BTC valued at a combined $3.98 billion. Given its average purchase price of $30,644 per BTC, the company has a net unrealized loss of around $1.4 billion tied to Bitcoin. With crypto winter only just beginning, it could take years for MicroStrategy to break even on its holdings. Saylor is as unfazed as ever, though.

MicroStrategy has purchased an additional 480 bitcoins for ~$10.0 million at an average price of ~$20,817 per #bitcoin. As of 6/28/22 @MicroStrategy holds ~129,699 bitcoins acquired for ~$3.98 billion at an average price of ~$30,664 per bitcoin. $MSTR https://t.co/leQYTXn817
— Michael Saylor⚡️ (@saylor) June 29, 2022

Don’t miss Where is Bitcoin headed next?

Bitcoin’s paltry rally toward $22,000 earlier this week had some investors excited that a short-term breakout was imminent. Well, that didn’t happen. Now, investors are wondering whether we will see $30,000 or a sub-$17,000 BTC first. In this week’s Market Report, I got to dissect the latest market developments with fellow analysts Jordan Finneseth, Benton Yuan and Marcel Pechman. You can catch the full replay below.

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